The present invention relates to a wiper blade having a backing that imparts rigidity and resilience to a wiper strip.
Conventionally, wiper blades have been known that wipe a surface to be wiped such as the windshield of a vehicle. For example, Japanese National Phase Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-513928 discloses a wiper blade that has a wiper strip attached to a case without using a lever assembly formed by coupling a number of levers in a whiffletree-like manner. A leaf spring-like backing is retained in the case to impart rigidity and resilience to the wiper strip. This reduces the height of the wiper blade. In the wiper blade, a cap is attached to either end in the longitudinal direction of the backing. The caps are used for determining the position of the backing in the longitudinal direction with respect to the case. The caps prevent the wiper strip and the backing from escaping the case from the ends in the longitudinal direction of the case, that is, the caps prevent the case from separating from the wiper strip and the backing.
In the wiper blade disclosed in Japanese National Phase Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-513928, when replacing an old wiper strip that is worn and degraded with a new wiper strip, the two caps are removed from the backing before the wiper strip can be removed from the case. Since the caps are tiny parts, the caps may be lost when attaching or removing a wiper strip to or from the case.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a wiper blade that is capable of preventing caps from being lost when attaching or removing a wiper strip to or from a case.
To achieve the foregoing objective and in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a wiper is provided that includes an elongated wiper strip, a backing, a case, and a cap. The elongated wiper strip has an elongated retained portion and a wiping portion, which extends parallel with the retained portion, is adapted for wiping a surface to be wiped. The backing is provided along the length of the wiper strip and imparts rigidity and resilience to the wiper strip. The case is provided along the length of the wiper strip and retains therein the retained portion and the backing. The cap is attached to at least one of the ends in the longitudinal direction of the backing or to at least one of the ends in the longitudinal direction of the case. The cap accommodates a corresponding end of the wiper strip. With the cap attached to the backing or to the case, the interior space of the cap communicates with the interior space of the case. The cap has a rubber insertion hole that opens to the outside of the cap, and the retained portion can enter the interior of the cap via the rubber insertion hole.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.